| — Take on
Rich Assignments. . .
During the month of January, I covered a trial that decided whether
physician-assisted suicide was constitutionally protected in the state
of Florida. If I had worked for a larger paper, I probably would not have
been assigned to the courts’ beat, let alone been allowed to cover something
of such depth and importance.
I work at the Boca Raton (Fla.) News, a daily in South Florida with
a city desk staff of five. I cover both police and courts, which makes
for some hectic days but also for some great experiences.
Because of the small staff, reporters frequently are given general assignments
or allowed to do enterprise stories on virtually any subject. While this
sometimes takes me away from my assigned beat. it also allows me to cover
interesting and diverse stories that would fall to a different reporter
at a larger paper.
The majority of the reporters at the News are young, ambitious and at
the beginning of our careers. Rather than creating a competitive environment,
this makeup fosters a feeling of camaraderie and teamwork. There is little
pressure from within the newsroom to compete with one another because we
are all at the same level in the newspaper hierarchy — the bottom.
The outside world counters the relaxed newsroom environment, however.
As the smallest, poorest player in a high-stakes poker game, our reporters
have to fight against the much larger resources and staffs of two quarter-million
circulation dailies. Most of us are very new to the area and must compete
with journalists who have years of local experience and sources as well
as the name of a well-known paper to support them.
This makes our jobs more difficult, but it also makes us tougher. If
we can stay even with — and even beat — these bigger papers, we’re well
prepared to work anywhere.
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